What is the -oG output format primarily used for?

• A. Grepable output intended for parsing by scripts
• B. XML output used for structured data
• C. Human readable summary
• D. All formats combined in one file

Answer: (A)

Grepable output is designed to be easily parsed by scripts and command-line tools. It creates a consistent, compact text format where each host and port appears on predictable lines with fields for host, port, state, protocol, and service. That regular structure makes it straightforward to filter with grep, awk, sed, and similar utilities to extract exactly what you need—such as open ports or hosts meeting certain criteria. It’s built for machine consumption, not for human readability, and isn’t the XML or human-friendly summary option. If you need structured data for machines, you’d use a format like XML; for a quick human readout, you’d use the normal human-friendly output or XML depending on the goal.